Trump brands Germany a "captive of Russian Federation", days before he meets Putin

Trump brands Germany a "captive of Russian Federation", days before he meets Putin

Trump-Nato summit: EU's Tusk warns president to appreciate allies

Deanna Wagner
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11 July, 2018, 15:27

"Many countries are not paying what they should, and, frankly, many countries owe us a tremendous amount of money from many years back", Trump said at a breakfast meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.

Berlin has given political support to the building of a new, $11-billion pipeline to bring Russian gas across the Baltic Sea called Nord Stream 2, despite qualms among other European Union states.

The comments will have made for uncomfortable viewing for the rest of Nato's 29 members, whose officials have voiced fears that Mr Trump could undermine the alliance during the gathering.

President Trump will attend a closed-door summit with Vladimir Putin on Monday and has said no aides from the United States would be present for much of the talk.

The United States under President Trump is a proud member of North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, but if certain European powers fail to get on board with their obligations, they may find a partner in Washington that instead prioritizes reciprocal trade and alliance-building measures with countries that are true to their word and live up to their commitments. On 17 May, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump is demanding that Germany drop Nord Stream 2 as one of the conditions for a trade deal with Europe that would not include high tariffs on steel and aluminium.

"Germans need to do more and can afford to do more", on defense spending, said Simakovsky, but "you can make it harder to meet that threshold when Trump is so unpopular".

Many US presidents have urged European governments to spend more on their militaries. Trump tweeted on Tuesday, quickly following up that tweet with one accusing the European Union of "making it impossible for our farmers and workers and companies to do business in Europe".

Both countries will be well-served in the meantime by the British parliament's recent decision to ratify the deal, known as CETA, said Joseph Pickerill, a spokesman for International Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne. "On that point the American friends have a point", von der Leyen said.

The NATO alliance has been critical to the USA since its formation in 1949 when it was created in response to the Soviet Union. Trump's trade adviser Peter Navarro went as far as telling a USA talk show that there was "a special place in hell" for Trudeau - a remark he later walked back. "Other presidents never did anything about it because i don't think they understood it, or they just didn't want to get involved", Trump suggested, warning he would take a very different approach.

"Men like him, who look after the interests of their own citizens - we could do with dozens of them in this country", Mr. Salvini said.

While Mr Trump is looking to improve relations with Russian Federation, there has been alarm at the deteriorating climate with his allies in Europe and what he might agree to with President Putin.

He said the usa did not and would not have a better ally than the EU, reminding the president that European troops had also fought and died in Afghanistan after the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US.

While Mr Trump is looking to improve relations with Russian Federation, there has been alarm at the deteriorating climate with his allies in Europe and what he might agree to with President Putin.

The NATO summit is also being attended by leaders of so-called NATO partner states that are not members of the alliance.